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How to become a debt buyer

coda.io

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Re: How to become a debt buyer

#81

Post by e63f67dd-065b »

BobJS wrote: post #41
philipkglass wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm upvoting this short comment in hopes that you'll share a somewhat longer story about what you tried to do and why it didn't work. Thanks!

I can answer any specific questions anybody has but basically, I landed in the industry by chance and got good at automating the collection process. I never had the backbone to strong arm people so I played the numbers game. Technology was my advantage. Meanwhile, all of my peers were getting rich running unlicensed agencies and lying to debtors. I was getting sued constantly for following the rules. I'd win the laws…

I've always wondered why more debt collectors don't go the wage garnishment route. Are the legal fees just not worth it? I imagine that the process is only complicated the 1st time, and you can just re-use paperwork for every other case. If it were profitable more people would be doing it, so I guess what exactly makes it unprofitable?

Re: How to become a debt buyer

#82

Post by marssaxman »

lukev wrote: post #69
BobJS wrote: post #29

I wrote this article years ago. I can't believe it's on HN today. As someone who spent almost a decade trying to run as ethical an agency as possible, I realized that there's no room for people who want to operate the right way. I could go on for days about all of the crazy stuff I saw while I was involved but leaving the debt industry was the best decision I ever made. Terrible industry, terrible people.

This is a question I've always had about the debt industry... How hard would it be for consumers (or through a proxy) to seek out and buy their own debt? You mention in another comment that medical debt (for example) could go for pennies on the dollar. If I'm hundreds of thousands of dollars in medical debt (as many people are), it seems like this would be well worth the effort. Is it possible to locate a particular…

The "Rolling Jubilee" project, which grew out of the Occupy movement, does pretty much what you suggest:

https://debtcollective.org/what-we-do/debt-abolition/

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